FTL: Limited Information (Federation Victory!)

[Enter]

Are we fighting this or getting out?

[callforjudgement]

Updated report: it seems like the fire's now been extinguished.

[PvtUrist]

It's only an asteroid, relax.

[the worst]

Everything Is Fine [tm]

[Enter]

There are pirates

[PvtUrist]

There are soon to be dead pirates

Tech, status report after this encounter.

[callforjudgement]

Despite all the commotion on board your ship, it doesn't seem like the enemies are faring much better. Our ship tried to EMP the enemy shields; they dodged that, but ran right into our beam, and are taking very heavy damage.

They're hailing us, offering a bribe to stop shooting at us. It's only ⛯10 and some components we can't use, though; and as they're pirates and attacked us unprovoked, we'd be entirely justified in blowing them up if we wanted to.

[Enter]

Blow 'em to smithereens

[PvtUrist]

Tell them they said a good joke and keep firing

[callforjudgement]

PvtUrist refuses to turn off the beam, and it slices through the ship, breaking their shields. With their shields down, it's not long before an asteroid takes them out.

We quickly gather the remains of their ship, and then start setting up the ship for our next jump.

(We gained ⛯19 worth of material from the remains of their ship.)

[the worst]

There are soon to be dead pirates

Tech, status report after this encounter.

Course private. o7

[Enter]

"Jumping."

[callforjudgement]

Jump 4

Sapiens Directive

. A rule among the Rebels that non-humans may never be negotiated with and must not be allowed to be in positions of power.

This is a mostly human sector, and you just discovered a potential cause of that: the Rebel ship sitting at the beacon here. They're spreading propaganda about human supremacy, and about how all other intelligent species are a danger that must never be allied with.

When they see a Federation ship next to them, they're willing to negotiate, although they charge their weapons anyway; Federation/Rebel encounters tend not to go too well. When they see that the pilot isn't human, though, they cut communications and start firing at us.

That said, if they really want to rid the galaxy of non-humans, they're going to need better weapons, and better timing with their weapons. Although they disrupt our shields for a bit, they don't manage to bring their beam to bear before PvtUrist breaks their weapon system, and with no way to defend themselves, they're are for some reason suddenly more interested in negotiating again.

It's a fairly good offer: enough fuel to top our fuel tanks back to the level we started with, and ⛯10 on top of that. Do we accept it, or blow them up?

[Enter]

Can we get crew members/slaves from them?

[PvtUrist]

make rebel go boom

[callforjudgement]

They aren't willing to change their offer; this is the most they think they can part with.

[Enter]

credits would be nice tho

i want a slave

i want a pet human

or a hyman friedn

[Enter]

i fthey won't give us a person give them the bbooom bboom

[callforjudgement]

Regardless of how well the negotiations might or might not be going, PvtUrist doesn't seem to think they're worth continuing, and continues to fire the weapons. Their ship blows up.

Unfortunately, we seem to have destroyed the fuel they were offering in the process, but we get a total of ⛯16 from looting their broken ship.

[callforjudgement]

(By the way, I won't ask about surrender offers in future unless they're better than the one you just turned down, unless someone tells me otherwise.)

[Enter]

Don't ask about surrender offers unless they're better than the one we just turned down OR the offer us a crew member!

[callforjudgement]

Jump 5

Mercenary (n).

In the galaxy's current state of war, mercenaries are those who try to play all sides of it and profit. Generally speaking, they fight for whoever's willing to pay them the most, and get even more profit off the scrap. Law enforcement agencies are generally torn between blowing them up ­– they've almost all committed numerous crimes on the bankroll of pirates or Rebels – or paying them to switch sides.

There's yet another ship at this beacon, but for once, it isn't an enemy – or at least, might not be. It's a mercenary ship between jobs, looking for anyone willing to hire it, and it doesn't much care which side it's fighting for. They claim to be sympathetic towards the Federation, but they'd all say that, wouldn't they?

If we want to negotiate with the mercenary, there are two jobs we could reasonably hire them for. We could hire them to scout ahead for ⛯11; this won't give much information, but it will help us work out where the battles are most likely to be. Alternatively, we could hire them to give false information about us to the Rebels, but they want danger pay for that; ⛯24 would be most of the scrap we've collected so far.

Currently, each of you has ⛯8¾, so you'll need to pool your money if you want to pay the mercenary. Alternatively, this one seems to have worked with pirates in the past, so we could find an excuse to blow them up if we really wanted to; they are, however, unlikely to attack us unprovoked.

[the worst]

I support the private's decision there.

pedit: I'd be inclined to fight or ignore them.

[Enter]

fight

[PvtUrist]

mercenary go boom